Team USA took home nine medals at the 48th Lee Evans Tournament of The Americas on Tuesday, with Elise Bolton and Lucy Sandelin leading the way by taking the gold in their respective divisions at Boardwalk Bowl in Orlando, Fla.

Despite an opening game of 137 on a brutal long pattern that continued to spell trouble throughout the day, Bolton averaged 205 over the next five games for a winning pinfall of 2,483 in the Junior A (ages 16-19) Women’s division. Sandelin, the 2008 Senior Queens champion, widened her lead from yesterday to win the Senior Women’s division by 174 pins with a 12-game total of 2,297.

Other top finishers include two-time PWBA titlist Kendra Gaines, who took silver in the Adult Women’s division, and 2008 Team USA Trials champion Cassidy Schaub, who surged from sixth place to take silver in the Adult Men’s division.

“I think we had a better idea of how to attack the lane patterns today,” said Team USA Assistant Coach Bryan O’Keefe. “We took our lead from Elise Bolton since she performed the best yesterday and played the long pattern a little farther out than you normally would.”

The week-long tournament continues Wednesday with six games of doubles competition and O’Keefe draws confidence from Team USA’s performance at last year’s tournament.

“Last year we seemed to start off a little sluggish, but they turned it around,” O’Keefe said. “These bowlers are all talented. They’ll get it done.”